Qualla: Hasht Behesht: The Palace of Eight Paradises

Hasht Behesht: The Palace of Eight Paradises: Introduction

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Matrakçı Nasuh, Public domain. A Venetian merchant named Domenico Romano visited Tabriz around 1510 and struggled with language. The palace before him -- an octagon roughly 20 to 23 meters in diameter, two stories tall, crowned by a dome, containing a central hall surrounded by thirty-two chambers with multiple terraces -- was, he wrote, "so beautiful that I can hardly find words to express it." The walls were enameled and gilt, painted with scenes of Ottoman ambassadors visiting the ruler Uzun Hasan, of royal hunting expeditions, all rendered in gold, silver, and ultramarine blue. This was the Hasht Behesht Palace, the Palace of Eight Paradises, and it no longer exists.

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Image: Matrakçı Nasuh | Public domain

Hasht Behesht: The Palace of Eight Paradises: The Aq Qoyunlu's Crown Jewel

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Matrakçı Nasuh, CC BY-SA 4.0. The palace was begun by Uzun Hasan, ruler of the Aq Qoyunlu dynasty from 1452 to 1478, and completed by his son Yaqub Beg between 1483 and 1486. It stood at the center of the Sahebabad Garden in the northern part of Tabriz, probably built on the foundations of an earlier structur...

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Image: Matrakçı Nasuh | CC BY-SA 4.0

Hasht Behesht: The Palace of Eight Paradises: Looted After Chaldiran

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Navid Sadighi, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1514, the Ottoman Sultan Selim I defeated Shah Ismail I at the Battle of Chaldiran and advanced on Tabriz. The Hasht Behesht Palace was briefly occupied and systematically looted. Precious goods were stripped from the halls and sent to Istanbul. Artists from the Tabriz court w...

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Image: Navid Sadighi | CC BY-SA 4.0

Hasht Behesht: The Palace of Eight Paradises: Destruction and Legacy

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mina Sarabi, CC BY 4.0. In 1585, the Ottoman general Jafar Pasha demolished the Hasht Behesht Palace and replaced it with a massive defensive fortification, the Castle of Jafar Pasha. The decision was military pragmatism over architectural preservation -- a palace was a symbol of the enemy's dynasty, an...

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Image: Mina Sarabi | CC BY 4.0

Hasht Behesht: The Palace of Eight Paradises: What Romano Saw

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit 1481, Tabriz, Public domain. Domenico Romano's description remains one of the most detailed accounts of the palace. Four entrances on the ground floor, apartments decorated beyond what he could articulate, realistic paintings of diplomatic scenes and hunts covering the walls. The color palette alone -- gold,...

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Image: 1481, Tabriz | Public domain